Economic impact of UK music up 5% in 2014, says UK Music

Cross-sector trade group UK Music has published the latest edition of ‘Measuring Music’, which sets out to assess the economic impact of the wider music business in the UK.

And according to the research, the ‘gross value added’ by the music industry in 2014 was nearly £4.1 billion, up from £3.8 billion in 2013, an increase in no small part aided by the success of British artists internationally. ‘Measuring Music’ reckons that 117,000 full time jobs are now provided by the music industry, the majority of which are people involved in the writing, creating, recording and performing of music.

The music creator community – so musicians, composers and songwriters – contributed £1.9 billion to the economy last year. The music rights sector was worth just over a billion (£615 million for recordings, £410 million for publishing), while the live sector saw the biggest growth from 2013, up to £924 million. Studios and music production contributed £116 million, while music representatives contributed £89 million.